In March 2006, for the first time in years, Slaine had good reason to abstain from punishing his nostrils at suicidal rates. The then-fledgling Southie MC had spent the prior week at Lethal's crib in Los Angeles, where the House of Pain and Limp Bizkit DJ flew him to record tracks and have a break from the drug hell that he was immersed in around Southie. In years past, Slaine had fought off hepatitis-scarred junkies in detox at the Dimock Community Health Center in Roxbury. Irish hip-hop cats look out for one another; around 2000 – when he temporarily left Boston in search of a career in New York — an often-homeless Slaine (known then as John Doe) used to crash on House of Pain member Danny Boy O'Connor's couch.

On his 2006 Cali adventure, Slaine was impressed that women suddenly found his pasty round physique attractive when he climbed behind the wheel of Lethal's Beemer. But the highlight of his trip came in the studio, where Slaine's childhood rhyme hero, Everlast, was inspired to write raps for the first time since he traded his mic game for the Grammy-winning Whitey Ford persona ("It was like having a beast on each side of me at all times keeping the old man in shape," says Everlast about trading verses with Slaine and Ill Bill). Lethal laid the beats, Non-Phixion cult leader Bill jumped in the cut, Everlast lived up to his name, and Slaine — who, back home, was still squatting in a grimy Southie crack den — was on the verge of pitching for a House of Pain expansion team known as La Coka Nostra. LCN play the massive Rock the Bells tour at the Comcast Center this Saturday.

Though the crew only started recording three years ago — and took until this week to drop its debut disc, A Brand You Can Trust (Suburban Noize) — the LCN concept was born roughly half a decade ago in Danny Boy's imagination, and has since touted myriad affiliates and incarnations (past core members include Big Left and Kaves from Lordz of Brooklyn). Since conception, they've been dubbed everything from a white-rap all-star squad to a hip-hop mob of sorts. One frightening portrait features the central LCN characters surrounded by a gang of roughnecks whom Shaq wouldn't battle with a chainsaw. But despite LCN being an internationally notorious group whose members have collectively sold tens of millions of records — catalyzing an online movement that makes the 2 Girls 1 Cup phenomenon eat shit — it took more than just skills, props, and contacts to cook a convincing classic and avoid being hip-hop's answer to Rock Star Supernova.

Waking the dreadIn Boston, Slaine is a hometown anti-hero; since linking with LCN, he's also dropped a money solo disc, collaborated on the critically fellated Special Teamz project with Beantown stalwarts Jaysaun and Edo G, and, as a kicker, played a substantial role in Ben Affleck's directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone. Slaine also married his long-time girl and had a son, which was why the only time he could do this interview was in his car while running errands the night before jetting overseas for LCN's first European tour.

Get sprung Between the packages that turn up on my Jamaica Plain doorstep and the envelopes that stuff my Phoenix mailbox, I have enough music to start a mixtape spot in Downtown Crossing.

The other white beat In the home of Slaine, Esoteric, Sullee, Bomshot, Lyrical, and about 10,000 other pale MCs who can hang with brothers of all shades and styles, the notion of prolific whiteboys is hardly novel.

Beyond Dilla and Dipset With a semi-sober face I'll claim that hip-hop in 2010 might deliver more than just posthumous Dilla discs, Dipset mixtapes, and a new ignoramus coke rapper whom critics pretend rhymes in triple-entendres.

Here we go, yo No Rock the Bells tour would be official without a godlike headliner at the helm.

Scrunk happens According to AbsolutePunk's Jason Tate, brokeNCYDE "epitomize everything that music (and human beings) should not be."

From ’Ye to mixtapes To get the full taste of where hip-hop is at, you also have to seek out the unofficial releases, the mixtapes, which often have a bigger impact than the official albums.

Chairmen of the boards Not unlike Swedish, Tagalog, and Esperanto, music is a language, with its own conjugations and (lewdly) dangling participles.

War of the words 50 Cent has a long history of initiating beefs before he releases a new album.

Top 10 Hyphy Videos of all time With Warner Bros. snapping up the cream of the Yay Area rap scene , TVT capitalizing on Hyphy Hitz , and even indie-rock geeks learning how to ghost ride the whip , we figured it's high time to take a quick look back at how we got here. So get your stunna shades on and get ready to go dumb: it's the top 10 hyphy videos of all time!

Bay Area beats Although Oakland’s hyphy movement got its name from a bastardization of the word “hyper,” at this point that could just as easily stand for “hype.”

Dead, or immortal? When Chuck D challenges the status quo, a bunch of fortysomethings nod their heads, but Nas can put the young rappers on the defensive.

CZARFACE SOARS ABOVE THE CLOUDS | February 11, 2013 This week 7LES and Inspectah Deck drop Czarface , a full-length work of adventurous genius revolving around a metal-clad protagonist who feeds on destruction.

THE BPD ADDS INSULT TO INJURY | February 05, 2013 At times, this kind of decision makes you wonder whether the BPD is saving its best awards for officers who've been involved in the death of civilians.